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22 Jan By Emily B. Top Moments of 2015

Every year we get better at what we do, and every year we love it more than before, which makes our wedding planner “year in review” blog post in early January a favorite task. But this year as we were traveling for destination weddings just after the new year so we decided to do take a slightly different approach. Kristin asked each of the By Emily B. girls to choose their favorite moment from the year and she posted them to Instagram as she traveled. It didn’t have to be something they experienced first hand, it just had to be the moment that spoke to them and made them feel excited about what we do. Eight team members, eight moments, right? Not exactly. Kristin found it almost impossible to pick just one, so there are nine…

1. Chelsey’s pick kicked things off: a wedding that was extremely challenging in so many ways, yet the results were absolutely stunning and the sense of accomplishment was truly authentic. It was a brunch event so we were up before the sun, arriving on a dark March morning and unloading in the slush and snow. Maggie had broken her arm the day before, which meant we were down one set of hands, but she rose to the occasion and still coordinated the day flawlessly. The end result was super romantic. One of the best parts was because it was in Saratoga, New York, near Kristin’s hometown, we set up headquarters at her grandfather’s house, which was really special. Especially since her passion for flowers was passed down from her late grandmother, who used to gift her bouquets of peonies and roses she grew every summer in the garden outside that very house. And because it was a morning affair, the team spent the evening after the wedding at Kristin’s family’s favorite local bar, walking home late at night arm-in-arm in a magical snow storm.
Image: Rodeo & Co. Photography

2. The second pick was Jennifer’s, but it was certainly a favorite for all of us: Bill and Kari’s Wanderlust Collective vow renewal on St. John in the Virgin Islands. This day was absolutely extraordinary. After the usual island struggles of receiving another florist’s flower order (all ferns) and trekking back t St. Thomas to swap it for ours, we pulled it off and watched two incredible people say ‘I do’ again, after twenty years of marriage, in one of the most beautiful places, a home away from home for us. Everyone wore white, each girl wore a flower crown, bottles of champs were drank, an amazing dinner was had, and we stayed out dancing all night.
Image: Lindsay Vann Photography

3. Rachel’s favorite moment this year comes all the way from Philadelphia! A super fun collaboration we had with Belovely Floral & Event Design for Ruffled Blog and Freixenet. I mean, a champagne styling moment would make the top eight for us, am I right? Rachel is a super talented little stylist and she just loved the execution and composition of this shot, styled by the amazing Lauren of Belovely.
Image: Sarah Mckay Photography

4. Tracy’s pick topped the charts for most of us this year because we all just fell in love with this couple and how could you not get excited by this overzealous confetti toss with their dog, Mr. George! Our favorite part of this reception was that all of their place cards were held at each setting by tiny lace crowns (handcrafted by us!) because Stevi calls Chelsea her “queen.” Swoon! Another fun fact about this wedding? We left our studio at 4am to drive to Northern Maine and pulled back in at exactly 4am the following day. No sleep — just flowers, confetti, crowns, and one totally fantastic couple.
Image: Lauren Sawyer Photography

5. Sweet Maggie’s favorite moment came from her experience of taking over the bulk of our wedding coordination this year. Her new role meant that she got to really connect with our brides early in the planning process and spend most of the wedding day by their side. So this moment with Tamara before she walked down the aisle was a really important part of Maggie’s year. She had formed a bond with Tamara, the kind of bond that reminds us why we work so hard for our brides. We are so lucky to join them on their wedding planning adventure and often be the last person they speak to before they walk down the aisle to marry the love of their life. We feel so privileged to do that we do and have lovely ladies like this that become friends for life.
Image: Micah and Megan

6.Of course Katherine’s top moment is island-related and with the freezing temps in New England, we welcome it. This Wanderlust Collective shoot on Windy Hill, St. John was a total dream. We worked so hard to make it happen between boat rides and hiking and rushing to shoot at sunset in these overgrown runs, but the results are always worth the scraped legs and tired muscles. Especially when one of the images from it lands on the cover of Destination Weddings Magazine. Now that was a good moment.
Image: Lindsay Vann Photography

7. Our St. Augustine photo shoot with E.M. Anderson was Emily’s top pick for the year! We have been working really hard to grow our destination wedding business and target certain locations. After a wedding in St. Augustine in 2014, we decided it was a place we’d like to work more so when E.M. Anderson reached out with an idea we jumped at the chance to shoot with her, flying direct from a destination wedding in the Caribbean to make it happen. The vendors were amazing and it was featured on 100 Layer Cake with one of our favorite bouquets front and center.
Image: E.M. Anderson

8. The first of Kristin’s two picks is all the unicorn magic from these sassy bridesmaids at our Atlanta wedding last fall. The bride, Lesley, is the sweetest of the sweet and this wedding was just super fun. A gorgeous bride, killer florals, and Atlanta, a city we do love despite the traffic, let’s do it all over again.
Images: W. Scott Chester

9. And last, but not certainly not least, is a wedding that many of you have probably seen before but should see again. It was, without a doubt, one of the best days of our By Emily B. careers. It was one of the most intricate events we have ever planned for one of the most incredible couples we have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We had a blast and were beaming with pride by the end of the evening. And don’t even get us started on their families. Kristin is still wondering if the Aroras will let her spend all future holidays with them. If you haven’t watched the full-length feature film yet, do it. You won’t regret it. Noreen and Tyler, from the bottom of our little wedding planner hearts, we adore you.

In closing, I have to give a disclaimer here: if we could choose 1,000 moments to share with this blog post we would. 2015 was an absolutely amazing year and we loved every second of every wedding. It fills us with such joy to be your wedding planners and event designers, and we could not be more grateful when you choose us to be a part of your day. We love each and every one of our couples, and though we shared just 9 moments here we have favorites from every wedding we ever do.